The history of The London Resort

October 2012: Plans for Paramount Park are announced

LRCH revealed for the first time that they were planning to build a huge theme park on the Swancombe Peninsula in Kent. They were working with film company Paramount on the project at the time.

May 2014: The park was given ‘nationally significant’ status

Paramount Park was granted Nationally Significant Infrastructure Status, which meant that planning applications could go straight to the Secretary of State, rather than going through local planning requirements and committees.

It was hoped the park would open in 2019 at this stage.

June 2014: Public consultation

Local residents and businesses who had registered themselves as ‘interested parties’ were allowed to have their say on the plans.

November 2014: Another round of consultations

Interested parties were invited to find out more details about Paramount Park and how it could affect them. The talks took place between November 5 to 14 and included topics like how it would affect employment and transport in the area.

These talks also saw the first images from the project released including attractions based on some of Paramount’s most successful movie franchises like Mission Impossible and Star Trek rides.

It was also announced that the opening date for Paramount Park had been put back to Easter 2020.

December 2014: BBC Worldwide get involved

The developers announced they had signed an agreement with BBC Worldwide - the commercial arm of the BBC. This meant some of some of the channels most popular TV shows, like Doctor Who, could have been turned into attractions and rides.

January 2015: 388 acres of land was bought to build Paramount Park

A 388-acre area of land, called the Swanscombe Peninsula, was purchased to build the park on.

February and March 2015: Aardman Animations and the British Film Institute are brought in

Aardman Animations, who created Wallace and Gromit, revealed a partnership with developers LRCH.

At the same time, the British Film Institute, were announced as cultural advisors to the project.

April 2015: Parking worries are revealed

More public consultations were held when local people and businesses repeatedly said they were worried about parking and public transport, if the park was built.

Many were worried that people would end up parking in the roads near the park if they couldn’t find a space and it could cause congestion.

Various ideas were put forward to help ease the traffic problem including a cable car system across the river and a ‘park and glide’ system where visitors could get a boat along the Thames to the resort.

September 2015: The date is pushed back again

Developers LCRH said their planning application would now be submitted in mid-2016, instead of autumn 2015. This was partly due to concerns about traffic and the environmental impact of the park.

This pushed the potential park opening date back to 2021.

April 2016: More delays

The developers pushed the planning application date back again, this time to the second quarter of 2017.

November 2016: Big parts of the application are changed

The original plans for the park had included a waterpark. But this idea was scrapped in November. Instead, an idea for a large indoor swimming pool connecting some of the resort’s hotels was mentioned.

The style of the resort’s hotels was also changed from urban to resort-style.

Another new opening date was put forward - the summer of 2022.

February 2017: New project leaders are named

At this point, Paramount Park was a £2 billion entertainment complex and was due to open in 2022. It would include a 110-acre theme park and hotels with 5,000 rooms between them. The park was expected to bring 33,000 jobs to Kent.

Paramount Park was financed by Kuwaiti European Holdings (KEH) which is owned by the Al-Humaidi family.

Bosses revealed that new senior appointments had been made to drive the park plans forward.

These were Humphrey Percy, Group CEO, KEH, who took on the role of CEO of LRCH; Mike Morrison was hired as CFO and Kevin Doyle, who worked on the Entertainment Resort project from the start, was appointed DCO Coordinator, responsible for ensuring that a Development Consent Order (DCO) for the project is successfully submitted.

It was revealed that 900 companies had registered an interest in investing in the park.

May 2017: Developers say the plans are on track

Humphrey Percy, group CEO of Kuwaiti European Holdings, told Kent Live that the plans for the park were still on track.

He said he was confident that plans would be approved and affordable, saying: "We have the financial backing to take us all the way through that process."

June 2017: Developers and Paramount part ways

Developers LRCH announced it had parted ways with Paramount films. However they said they were still on track and the plans would go ahead without the brand.

September 2017: More new dates

LRCH announced that the planning application would now be submitted in early 2018, which could push the park opening date back to 2023.

The costs of the mammoth project went up too - from £2bn to £3.5bn.

October 2017: Construction could begin in 2019

The developers said building work could begin on the park as early as 2019.

November 2017: A new name

The park was always called Paramount Park, but after Paramount parted ways with the developers, a new name was needed. It will now be called The London Resort and has a new logo.

March 2018: Developers reveal their plans to the government

The developers outlined their key plans to members of the Government Planning Inspectorate.

This included plans for two ‘gates’ at the park. Gate one would be the standalone theme park with six themed lands and 3,550 hotel rooms, and gate two would feature more hotels and more themed lands.

LRCH also said they would submit their planning application in 2019, but with no specific date.

October 2018: More cash revealed

A new investor, engineering and construction firm Keltbray, announced it was investing £25m in The London Resort project.

November 2018: A new opening date

The opening date of The London Resort is revealed to be 2024.

January 2019: What’s happening now?

The developers are still hoping to submit their application to the government in 2019.

The latest opening date is still 2024 - five years after the original date.

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